The Horseman (6 page)

Then, all at once and very unexpectedly, an
overpowering wave of mingled emotions began to well up in Briney’s
bosom. Tears filled her eyes, and they were tears not only for the
joy she was experiencing in riding Sassafras but also of mourning
for the loss of Mrs. Fletcher. Tears of sadness for her younger
self—the Briney Thress that had been orphaned at the age of three,
left to neglect and misery in the orphan asylum, until the day Mrs.
Fletcher had arrived and plucked her from a group of ragged girls,
all of whom were hoping for escape. More tears came as Briney
wondered at what had become of her friends at the orphanage who had
not been rescued from hunger, cold, and abandonment the way Briney
had.

Feeling the tears streaming over her cheeks,
Briney allowed herself to continue to cry. Mrs. Fletcher had always
maintained that tears showed weakness in a woman—that a woman
should never allow anyone to know what her true feelings were,
whether joyous or bitterly sad. And so Briney had spent many, many
years burying her true feelings—weeping only when she was certain
Mrs. Fletcher was sound asleep and would not hear her.

But no longer. Briney was not subject to Mrs.
Fletcher now. She was all grown up and free, and she would cry if
she wanted to, laugh when she wanted to, and ride her horse when
she wanted to. And so she did.

*

“She’s been gone a long time, boss,” Charlie
mentioned. “And she ain’t never rode astride before?”

“Nope,” Gunner confirmed.

Charlie shook his head with sympathy for the
young woman who’d come to buy a horse. “Think she’ll be too sore to
walk back to town?”

“Yep,” Gunner answered, grinning with
understanding at Charlie. “But don’t worry. I’ll just hitch up the
buggy and drive her on back. I’m hankering for a piece of Mrs.
Kelley’s peach pie anyhow.”

Charlie chuckled. “Two birds with one stone,
hmmm?”

“Yep,” Gunner said. “I’ll even bring you back
a piece of pie if you like, bein’ that I’ll have the buggy with
me.”

“That would be mighty nice to look forward
to, boss. Thanks,” Charlie said gratefully.

The fact was that Gunner was a whole lot more
worried about Miss Briney Thress having been gone so long than he
was letting on to Charlie.

Mr. and Mrs. Kelley had explained the young
woman’s situation to him a few nights before when he’d been having
supper at their restaurant. Seems the old woman who had been Miss
Thress’s guardian and traveling companion had given up the ghost
and left Miss Thress all alone in the middle of nowhere. Well, at
least left her in the very unfamiliar surroundings of Oakmont. It
seemed the girl had no family, no home—nothing. And yet she’d come
to buy a horse from Gunner.

Gunner shook his head a moment as he thought
of the sight that had greeted him when he’d walked into the
stables: Sassy cozying up to a stranger, a very pretty stranger—a
young women with hair the same color as Sassy’s bay and beautiful,
bewitching eyes the color of a dark blue horizon before a
thunderstorm. Sassy didn’t cozy up to anybody—well, nobody but
Gunner and Charlie. Sassy was shy. It had always seemed to Gunner
that Sassafras had somehow known the day his mother had passed.
Neither Gunner nor Sassy had ever been the same after that. And
Sassy, in particular, had become withdrawn.

Therefore, as much as a part of his heart
hated to see Sassy with another owner, the greater part of it was
happy to know she’d obviously found someone who had captured her
heart the very moment the horse had seen her. It seemed Gunner and
Charlie wouldn’t have to ride her as often to keep her exercised
and cheerful. And anyhow, Sassy wouldn’t really be leaving home at
all, being that Miss Thress would be stabling her with Gunner.
Still, Miss Thress had been gone a long while—almost three hours,
in truth.

But just as Gunner was considering saddling
up and going out to look for Miss Thress and Sassy, Charlie
hollered, “Here they come now, boss!”

Looking in the southern direction where
Charlie pointed, Gunner felt his eyebrows arch in what was either
astonishment or admiration—or both. There, on the horizon, were
Sassy and her rider, Miss Briney Thress. They weren’t riding hard
at all, but it was obvious by Miss Thress’s appearance that they
had at some point in the day.

As the horse and her rider neared, Gunner
could see that Briney’s hair had lost every one of its pins. It
hung long and free—windblown—looking exactly like the mane of the
horse she rode. Her cheeks were rosy, and her nose was as red as a
cherry. Most noticeable, however, was the change in the young
woman’s countenance—as if she’d just managed to escape prison and
was basking in the euphoria of her newfound freedom.

Even from the distance Gunner could see she
was smiling. And as she rode nearer and nearer, at last reining in
before him, he realized a smile was spread across his own face as
well. He figured there wasn’t a man on earth that could resist
smiling at such a sight as Briney Thress astride Sassy and looking
more cheerful and beautiful than any woman ever had.

“Mr. Cole,” Briney addressed the Horseman,
“this horse of yours is perfect! As gentle as a butterfly and yet
as strong and quick as Joe Cotton himself!”

Gunner chuckled and smiling at her said,
“Well, I don’t know if Sassy’s as fast as Joe Cotton…but she is a
good-natured, calm mount.” He paused, adding, “The perfect horse
for a lovely lady like yourself, Miss Thress.”

Briney laughed, delighted by his flattery.
“Oh, now don’t feel the need to butter me up, Mr. Cole, because if
you’re willing to allow me to purchase Sassafras, I’ll do it here
and now…right on this very spot!”

“Well, I’m mighty glad you’ve taken to her,
Miss Thress,” Gunner said, stroking Sassy’s jaw.

“Need any help dismounting, Miss Thress?”
Charlie asked, offering a hand to Briney.

“Oh no, indeed not,” Briney assured him. “And
I will admit that riding astride is much preferable to
sidesaddle…at least to my way of thinking.”

However, although Briney managed a graceful
dismount of Sassy, the moment her feet hit the ground, she knew she
was in trouble.

“Oh dear,” she breathed as she was
immediately aware of a terrible soreness in her legs and
posterior.

“We might should’ve warned you, ma’am,”
Charlie began, frowning as he studied her with concern. “If you’ve
never ridden astride…well, ma’am, three hours is a mighty long time
to ride if a body ain’t used to it.”

Briney looked up to Gunner Cole, trying to
appear as settled and strong as possible. She realized, however,
that her severe discomfort must’ve been more obvious than she
thought, for Mr. Cole rather grimaced in sympathy and said, “I…uh…I
didn’t realize you were plannin’ on bein’ gone so long, Miss
Thress, else I would’ve warned you about the stiffness you’ll
probably be feelin’ this evenin’.”

“This evening?” Briney asked.

“Oh yes, ma’am,” Charlie interjected. “What
you’re feelin’ now…well, that’s just the beginnin’ of it, I’m
afraid.”

“What?” Briney gasped, looking at the horse
wrangler in astonishment. “How can it feel any worse than
this?”

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t be as bad as all that,
Miss Thress,” Gunner assured her. “And besides, I was plannin’ on
headin’ into town here in a few minutes, and it looks like you rode
up just in time to catch a buggy ride with me. What do you say?”
Gunner paused, his handsome brows puckering with concern as he
added, “Unless you’re wantin’ to walk all the way back on your own.
I just figured, well…that you might have somethin’ to get back to
since you’ve been gone ridin’ for near to three hours.”

“Three hours?” Briney exclaimed. She had no
idea she’d been gone so long. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Cole! You were
probably thinking I was a horse thief or something! I suppose I’m
fortunate you didn’t string me up by the neck when I did
return.”

Gunner chuckled, and the sound caused
Briney’s heart to flutter. He was so handsome! Everything about him
was handsome—even the way he laughed.

“Oh, not at all, Miss Thress,” he assured
her. “I know all too well how a body can get lost in the day and
just ridin’ out to peace and quiet. But it is well past noon, and I
do need to get into town here pretty quick. So unless you really do
want to walk on back—”

“Oh no! No, no! I would be very grateful to
you for allowing me to accompany you in your buggy, Mr. Cole…very
grateful,” Briney assured him.

“I…um…well, if’n you don’t mind it, Miss
Thress, I can unsaddle Sassy, comb her down, see that’s she’s fed
and watered and all…if you like,” Charlie offered.

“Oh, that would be…that would be very
benevolent, Mr. Plummer,” Briney sighed. “I am quite a bit more
worn out than I realized.”

“I’m glad to do it, ma’am,” Charlie said,
smiling with unspoken understanding. “You have a nice afternoon,
Miss Thress. And I’ll look forward to seeing you again. Next time
you come out, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know
about groomin’ a horse, all right?”

“Thank you,” Briney said.

Her legs were burning as if they were on
fire! Her inner thighs were the worst of it; she felt that if she
attempted to walk, she’d collapse. She’d had no idea riding astride
would cause such strain to her muscles.

“Well, I’ll go hitch up the buggy,” Gunner
said. He looked at her, and although he attempted to appear
unaffected, Briney could see by the furrow of concern on his
forehead and brows that he commiserated with her discomfort. “The
outhouse is just yonder a ways…just there in the trees,” he said,
pointing to a small grove of trees behind him. “There’s a rain
barrel next to it if you feel like washin’ the ride off your hands
while I hitch up.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cole,” Briney said. Yet even
as she looked to where the outhouse and rain barrel stood just a
ways away, she wondered if she would be able to walk there and back
to see to her necessities.

Again Gunner smiled at her, another amused
yet sympathetic chuckle echoing in his throat. “It’ll take me a bit
to get the buggy ready…so take your time, all right?”

“Thank you,” Briney said. She was blushing so
thoroughly that she could’ve sworn even the hairs on her head were
crimson with humiliation.

Mustering as much strength as she could,
Briney started toward the outhouse. Her sense of humiliation
expanded when she realized that no matter how hard she tried to
walk normally, the soreness in her legs and posterior made it
impossible to do so. She was miserable in knowing that Gunner Cole
was most likely watching her hobble along—that he must think her
the biggest ignoramus on the face of the earth for having ridden
herself into such a condition.

Once Briney had managed to reach the outhouse
and see to the necessities needing to be seen to after a long ride,
she made her way to the rain barrel outside it. Happy to see a
barrel full of fresh, cool rainwater with which to wash her face
and hands, she was nevertheless horrified when she looked up to see
her reflection in the mirror hanging above on the outer wall of the
outhouse above the rain barrel.

She gasped at the image of the woman looking
back at her, thinking it could not possibly be her own reflection.
The face of the woman in the mirror was as red as a summer radish!
Having so enjoyed the sensation of the sun on her face, Briney
hadn’t, however, expected to see such a red flush on her tender
skin. And she certainly hadn’t expected it to be so extreme. In
addition to her now fiery complexion, her hair hung in a windblown
tangle of confusion! She looked exactly like an illustration of a
madwoman she’d seen in a book she’d once read—unkempt, disheveled,
and even somewhat maniacal!

Appalled at her appearance, Briney
frantically began combing her hair with her fingers. It was such a
snarl of windblown knots, however, that she at last determined the
only way to make it even somewhat presentable was to braid it.
Hastily working her hair into a long braid, she finished washing
the dirt from her face and hands, inhaled a deep breath of courage,
and turned to make her way back to the stables.

The soreness in her body was worsening with
each passing minute! How would she ever manage to make it through
the rest of the day?

And then a realization struck Briney: she
didn’t have to! If she could just make it back to the boardinghouse
(and she was sure she would, being that the Horseman had offered
her conveyance in his buggy), then once she was back in the privacy
of her room, she could simply collapse. It was an opportunity
Briney never had before—to rest when she felt like resting, instead
of having to wait for someone to give her permission to rest.

The thought brightened her spirits a bit. And
when the Horseman appeared from the far side of the stables leading
a horse already hitched up to a nice, comfortable-looking buggy,
Briney smiled. She felt exactly as if some handsome knight in
shining armor were coming to her rescue—and she couldn’t wait to
sit down in the buggy and not have to walk for a while.

“I thought you might be thirsty,” Gunner
explained, offering a canteen he’d filled with cool water to
Briney. “And I figured that a proper lady like you most likely
wouldn’t be drinkin’ out of the same rain barrel she’d used to wash
up with.”

The pretty young woman smiled and gratefully
accepted the canteen.

“Thank you, Mr. Cole,” she said.

Gunner watched as Briney drank from the
canteen. He smiled, pleased and amused at how quickly she’d pulled
herself back together after her ride. She’d somehow managed to work
her windblown hair into a nice, tidy braid, and her entire
countenance appeared refreshed—even for the state of her sunburned,
albeit very lovely, face. The girl was no limp dishcloth, looking
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed even for the fact Gunner knew her
discomfort from the ride had to be severe.